How to Optimize Your ITeS ABM with
Dark Funnel Strategies

Dark Funnel Strategies: Illuminating the Invisible

Picture this: You're an ITeS firm leveraging account-based marketing and carefully crafting campaigns to reach your ideal accounts. But what if I told you a major chunk of their decision-making process, whether to buy your services or not, is happening at a place where you can't even see it?

That's the dark funnel – those private conversations on social media, word-of-mouth recommendations, shares, and content shared via email that traditional analytics tools can't track – influencing your potential customers to buy or not buy your services.

Did you know?

● 90% of B2B buyers start their research online before engaging with a sales representative. (Source: Demand Gen Report, 2022 B2B Buyer Behavior Survey)
 ● More than 67% of the buyer's journey is done digitally. (Source: SiriusDecisions, note: While this study is relatively old, it is still widely cited, and the trend towards digital buying has only increased since then.)
● Dark Social is responsible for a whopping 32% of website referrals. (Source: RadiumOne study)
● And get this - only 20% of leads come from sources that you can easily track. (Source: Gartner)

For ITeS companies laser-focused on ABM, mastering the dark funnel is the ultimate business booster.

Don't worry, we're here to shed light on the hidden dark funnel and show you how to use it to your advantage.

Understanding the Dark Funnel of B2B Marketing

Think of the dark funnel as the behind-the-scenes action of your buyer's journey. It's where they're having real conversations, asking questions, and forming opinions about your brand – all without you directly seeing it.

For ITeS, the dark funnel is both a challenge and a golden opportunity. It's tough to track, sure, but once you understand it, you get a much clearer picture of your target accounts' journey. And that's where the magic happens – you can tailor/custom-make your outreach for perfection.

Dark Funnel Strategies to Light Up Your ITeS ABM

Become a Social Listener: Tune in to conversations about your brand, competitors, and industry buzz on social media, forums, and review sites. You'll learn so much about your target accounts' pain points, interests, and what makes them tick.

Amplification of Content: Get your employees, partners, and happy customers to share your awesome content on their social networks and in private messages. It's like word-of-mouth on steroids! (e.g.).

Get Personal, Not Transactional: Use the insights gleaned from social listening and dark funnel activity to craft highly personalized messages that resonate with your target accounts. Custom-make your outreach to specific pain points and interests, demonstrating a deep understanding of their current needs.

Account-Based Content Marketing: Create content that solves the specific problems your target accounts are facing(at the moment). Personalized case studies, white papers, and webinars – give them extremely valuable analytics-based insights and solutions such that they never forget you.

Empower Your Employees: Encourage your team to become brand ambassadors on social media. Their authentic voices can reach key decision-makers within your targeted high-value accounts in a way that feels natural and genuine.

Don't Forget Offline: Conferences, trade shows, networking events – these are goldmines for building relationships with key people from your target accounts. Those face-to-face conversations can spark connections that lead to further engagement, even in the dark funnel.

Reward Referrals: Set up a referral program to thank your customers and partners for bringing in new business. It's a win-win – they get rewarded, and you get high-quality leads.

Get Analytical: Invest in tools that help you monitor/track and attribute conversions to dark funnel activities. It's like shining a flashlight into the shadows – you'll see what's working and what's not so you can fine-tune your strategy.

Optimize Your Website for Dark Social: Implement tools to track dark social sharing and make it easy for visitors to share your content privately. Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly, as many dark social shares happen on mobile devices. Include social sharing buttons on your blog posts and other content, but also consider adding options for sharing via email or messaging apps. You can even experiment with creating "shareable quotes" or visual snippets that are easily shared on social media or in private messages.

The Dark Funnel as a Revenue Pipeline Opportunity

Beyond brand awareness and engagements, the dark funnel also presents a wonderful revenue generation opportunity. By tracking and analyzing dark social and website interactions, you can:

• Discover And Capture Latent Demand: Identify potential clients who are actively discussing your brand or solutions within closed ecosystems like private social groups, messaging apps, or email threads.
• Accelerate Sales Velocity: Engage leads already warmed up through dark funnel activities and interactions, expediting their journey through the sales funnel and reducing the average time-to-close.
• Increase Customer Lifetime Value(CLTV): Strengthen relationships with existing customers by monitoring their dark funnel activities, allowing you to proactively comprehend their pain points, needs, and concerns and identify upsell or cross-sell opportunities.

In a Nutshell

For ITeS companies doing ABM, the dark funnel is your secret weapon. By leveraging these hidden touchpoints, you can create a more personalized and effective outreach strategy and gain a deeper understanding of your target accounts as well, build stronger relationships, and ultimately close more deals.

So, go ahead, shine a light on the dark funnel, and get your ITeS ABM strategy thrive in the market!

FAQs - Simplifying Dark Funnel Marketing

What exactly is the dark funnel?

The dark funnel refers to the untracked or invisible touchpoints in the customer buying journey, such as social media interactions, word-of-mouth referrals, content shared via private messaging apps, untracked website visits, and visits from sources that are difficult to attribute, such as shortened links or dark social sharing.

Why should ITeS companies care about the dark funnel?

ITeS companies should care about the dark funnel because it's where a lot of the decision-making happens! Understanding the dark funnel helps you custom-make your ABM strategy and reach key decision-makers in the selected accounts.

How can I use the dark funnel to my advantage?

Listen on social media, amplify your content, personalize your outreach, create targeted content, foster employee advocacy, leverage offline events, set up referral programs, and use advanced analytics.

FAQs - Simplifying Dark Funnel Marketing

Sure! Think of conversations on private messaging apps, shares on social media, word-of-mouth recommendations, and even offline conversations about your company at events, etc.

How can I measure the impact of my dark funnel strategies?

You can measure the impact of your dark funnel strategies by investing in advanced analytics tools that can track and attribute conversions to those hidden dark funnel activities and touchpoints.